Epic, I think that's the word...

We went "camping" this weekend. And I will try to capture all of the hilarity as best as I can for you. But I may forget some funny stories which you will have to hear at a later point from me directly.

My mom and stepdad are currently living in a fifth-wheel camper in a little RV park near Dotsero, Colorado. A little trivia for you, Dotsero is named such (Dot Zero) because the geologist Ferdinand Hayden did a survey of central Colorado forever ago and Dotsero was his reference point on his maps. I know I am an a dork...

Anyway, Aiden spent a few days with Grandma and Papa Tennant at their cozy new place last week and we went up with some friends on Friday to see them and camped below the RV park next to the river.

It was kinda late when we got there Friday and we of course set up our tents in the dark, but we've become pros at it, so no big deal. It was hilarious though that one of the couples had a much larger, nicer tent than everyone else. So we spent the entire weekend making jokes about them staying in the Hilton and asking if their guest bathroom worked. We were just jealous because our tent wouldn't even zip all the way.

When I woke up in the morning, I was less than amused. There was a bug on my face. Because Steve opened the door in the middle of the night and switched himself around to be sleeping perpendicular to me, with half his body out side the tent, in the dirt. I wasn't pleased. But after my coffee I was in a better mood. 

We played around a bit at our campsite.

Steve and Aaron - The Hilton in the background there

Steve, forcing me to put his *unlit* cigar in my mouth

us bein silly

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Saturday, Aiden hung out with Grandma and us crazy kids piled into one truck and drove to Paonia Lake. I've only ever driven past it before so boating and swimming there was a first for me. It was so much smaller than I remembered. But I guess I got a little bigger haha. It was really secluded and of the 7 boats we saw, 2 others were friends of one of the guys. So those two boats tied up to ours and we spent most of the day drinking and hoping to get enough of a beer sweater to jump into the dirty cold water. 

The girls after jumping in

Steve surfin

Jeb surfin and drinkin!

Aaron being frustrated with Steve

The clouds wouldn't leave us alone, we would get about 10 minutes of sun every hour - so we had to take that opportunity to jump in and pee and get as warm possible again before the sun was gone. Luckily we never did get any rain, and it was still warm enough to enjoy even though the clouds were hovering.

We made the best of it though, by making "Get Off!" jokes all afternoon...people kept asking for "Off! Bug Spray" and inappropriate jokes always ensued.

They boys didn't let the weather ruin their fun, that's for sure!

On the way back to camp, we stopped at the natural hot springs near Carbondale.

I've always referred to them as "Hippie Dips" because on just about every raft trip I have taken, we have passed natural hot springs and they were always being used as a bath by transient people.

By the time we got home and showered and ate dinner, it was nearly 9:30. With big plans to go rafting Sunday, we nixed the idea of going to see the Eli Young Band in Gypsum, and had a little fire then went to bed early. Good thing too, because we were really in for it on Sunday.

We rafted the Eagle River, from Wolcott to Eagle. Our guide wanted to pull out a little early because of some pretty serious rapids at the normal take out place, but  we decided to chance it anyway. Even though most boats flip there. Even though someone died there last week. Even though our raft was half full of first timers.

I've been quite a bit and I was scared.

Most of the trip was sunshine and enough beer that the cold water was easy to handle.

The girls taking a beer break

The whole crew

But after our beer break, the weather caught up to us. Just in time for the rapids to get serious.

I had taken my shirt off when we stopped, because I was soaked from paddling up front. So I was sitting there in my bikini, drenched in rain, anticipating the monster ahead of us. Not going to lie, I was a little freaked out. But we did really well, we kept the boat flat and no one fell. When we came to the take out though, there were three rafts waiting on the ramp not moving or doing anything and we had no where to go. We crash landed into some brush and the raft was pretty determined to keep going down stream even with the 4 guys in the water trying to hold it.

It was so determined in fact, that the force of the water sucked one of the guys under. He appeared next to me and Lauren who were still sitting in the boat, and he heaved his arms up over the side of the raft. Lauren grabbed his arm and he kept telling her to let go, everyone was scared. All I could think to do was grab his life jacket, so I stood up, grabbed it and just threw my body backwards. Fewf. 

Then Lauren and I had to scramble to get off the raft  so we went climbing in the brush hoping to get solid land under our feet. In the process, I got a nice little gash going up my leg. It hurt so bad I didn't even want to be touched. (It already looks a million times better)

Since I was driving the "shuttle" I went running to the car to get changed. I was so cold I just started stripping in the middle of the Eagle County Fair Grounds parking lot. You know what they say, let it all hang out...I think they say that anyway.

Once we made it back to camp and I could feel my toes again, I was so high on the whole thing that I wanted to go again. Not sure the rest of the crew was ready but they'll come around I hope :)

Here's one more funny video - happy Monday!

A couple anecdotes for your Monday

For such a low key weekend at the lake, we sure have some funny stories....

"Daisy the Pig" -- when we arrived (at nearly 11 pm) Friday night, the entire manly man community of Jackson Lake State Park was hard at work to gut, stuff, bury and cook a pig - Hawaiian Style. They dug a 4 foot grave in the dirt in front of the club house and started a fire in the bottom. While the coals were getting nice and hot, poor Daisy, as her chefs named her, was being stuffed with peppers, Italian sausage, garlic and sauerkraut (why I don't know). Then she was wired to a grate which would hold her up off the coals a bit and then she was wrapped in cheese cloth.

Because she would have to cook for 14 hours, these manly men had to bury her at midnight. So what keeps manly men cooking and digging so late into the evening you may ask??? Wiskey, that's what. They were druuuuunk.

When the pig was ready, they dumped a few inches of dirt on the coals then lowered Daisy into the pit (far less than gracefully) and thank goodness she was wired in or that piggy would have been gone! It was so funny. All the guys just had to be in on the action together. I love those manly men. They sure light up my life.

After Daisy was in the pit, they buried her completely. The idea is to create an oven for her to cook in, in the ground. The best part was, after she was finished, there was a nice 4 foot radius around her that was blocked of with caution tape that read "Caution Men Cooking" -- it was priceless.

"The Worst Diaper Ever" -- if you are squeamish, I advise you to skip ahead.

On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day playing on the beach. Once Aiden gets into the water and starts splashing around, he doesn't want to stop for anything. I usually have to threaten time-out in order to get him re-lathered in sun screen.

So around 4 o clock or so, I thought, he wasn't in bed til nearly 2 am and he's been up since 7...perhaps we should have a nap before the pig roast party. When I went to get him out of the water, his diaper was ooozing. It was so bad. I asked Steve for help and he joked, "You've got this Mommy!" but when he saw what I saw, he stepped up big time.

Instead of even taking the diaper off, we took him to the hose and literally hosed him down until the mess was manageable. I will spare the awful details but know this - a real man can handle really shitty messes....literally.

Then Aiden had to ride butt-naked back to the trailer on the golf cart where Mommy gave him another hose-bath for good measure. And, I threw away the bathing suit - no amount of cute is worth trying to salvage that puppy.

I will say this though - those water diapers really hold their shit.

"Death Raft" -- While looking for toys to play with on the beach, we found a very old life raft looking water toy. Aiden was really excited once it was inflated because it was "A BUTT!" (boat). But Steve and Erik had their doubts because they could hear it leaking. Oh well, we took it to the water anyway. Once we got to the beach with it, Aiden was trying to drag it into the water all on his own - he was on a mission to commandeer that vessel. But I told him, no lets wait for the guys....

Steve put Aiden in it and they went for a little float together. Aiden screamed bloody murder the entire time. I thought he was going to sink the raft while having his fit. He was crying for me and wanted out. So I waded out to the raft and got in with him. He climbed nearly up to the top of my head and screamed for land, "I'm done, done, done! I'm DONE!"

Lord almighty, you would have thought I was abusing my child! Once he was safely on the beach again I knew we would probably never get him in another boat for awhile....

"My Son is a Sissy???" -- Since we are laughing at Aiden's panic attack mode....while frog hunting Friday night, we found a BIG one. It was a real whopper! And when it hopped onto Aiden's foot, my oh my did he have a conniption fit.  He screamed so loud you would have thought it was me with a snake in my shirt!

Even though Aiden didn't like the frog, Kane wouldn't leave it alone. He herded it all over the boat ramp and club house patio. When he laid down, the frog even hopped over in between his front paws. It was so freaking adorable, Kane adopted the frog and it was his baby.

Aiden and Uncle Erik

Movin' On...Out?

I know it seems like all I do is tell you all how busy I am, but really, how is a person supposed to breathe??? Since Father's Day, life has been a blur of boxes, Shakespeare, cleaning supplies, dress shopping, and unpacking. I spent most of last week doing homework, trying to get ahead of everything before leaving for Nebraska so I don't miss any assignments. Also, I have slowly been moving clothes and other semi-important objects that make up my life, from my house to Dad's house.

Last night was the first night since this all started that I have actually felt like things were under control. Thank God, because I was definitely at my breaking point. I went out last weekend to see my cousin perform in a Battle of the Bands for Global Dance Festival and even though I really needed a couple hours to just hang out, I got so far behind packing and reading that the rest of my weekend was miserably stressed.

I helped with some finishing touches for my best friend's wedding (ie Nebraska Trip) and we went dress shopping for the rehearsal dinner. I have never been a "nice dresser" and dress shopping has always been awful for me (note to self - never remind Dad about prom 04...) But I couldn't find anything I wanted that was less that $150 dollars and it would be absurd to spend more on a sundress than my bridesmaid's dress. So I gave it all up.

This week I finished Romeo and Juliet and coordinated a bridal emergency kit with a couple other bridesmaids. Yesterday I finished moving and had a total breakdown - Aiden went to his first movie ever. Without me. I have been so looking forward to this and talking about it for months. But I missed it.

I miss the boys, period. I've not spent a night with Steve in a week. I missed last weekend with Aiden and will miss this one. Don't misunderstand. I am really excited about my trip, but all this stress and not enough of my boys really has me down. Especially since the 3 of us were supposed to go to a movie together. I know that I have a million priorities that revolve around being a good parent, and sometimes that means working harder and missing fun things to be able to afford what he needs but it still hurts to miss out.

Anyway, last night we got to all have dinner together at least. It was extremely bittersweet. My favorite part of our house was that it was a mile away from FrontRoom Pizza. Going to miss visiting regularly.

Aiden's gonna miss it too.

Tom the Turtle and Other Friends

Typically, stopping at Stub's for an ice cream cone is reserved for leaving The Lake. But after the week I had leading up to Father's Day weekend, I was not going to pass up a waffle cone for anything. Plus, while cleaning out our cabinets this week, we discovered one of the perks of being in our current house - we had lots of people over. And they brought booze! And they left it! And there was no way we were going to finish it all...so before donating it to a good cause (The Jackson Lake Pirates) we had to get something to mix it all with. 

So we got mixers, I got my ice cream cone, and Aiden met the dinosaur.

It's a rite of passage to sit on the dinosaur at some point, if you're lucky like me, you will do so when you are pregnant and no one dares take a photo of you...

As you can see, Aiden didn't like the dinosaur. Not so much that he didn't like the dino, he just didn't like that he was on the dino alone.

After a bunch of fuss, and failed attempts for good photos - I let him get off.

When he go off the dino, he said, "Byeeee Ninosore" 

What a goof.

Then we were on our merry way.

When we got to The Lake, a somewhat smaller dinosaur, Tom the Turtle actually, was waiting to meet Aiden. Papa Deiker found him at work and saved him for us (lucky me). Thank goodness we are moving and taking two pets with us already to my Dad's, because we had an excuse not to bring him home with us to keep forever.

It took Aiden a little while to warm up, but by first thing Saturday morning he was asking non stop about his "tuttle" and constantly checking on it.

Other than some not-so-great June weather, we got to enjoy an evening boat ride which was very pleasant. We also took out the jet skis. This has become one of my favorite parts of going to The Lake. It's something that just Steve and I do together and we always park and swim and enjoy each other for a few minutes. It's so nice to be so far out in the water away from everything. It's weird, even if he's chasing me to splash me or doing his best to land me in the water, I am still so totally involved with how great it is just to be with him and just to be us, playing around.

We also spent an afternoon on the beach, Aiden is quite the water bug. I knew after last Summer he would be. Nevertheless, he surprised me when he just went walking in and pushing his toy boat out as far as he could. It was pretty hilarious, he'd toss it out and say, "Byeeee Butt!" and start walking towards the shore. But by the time he turned around to look back a the water, the waves had brought the boat back and he would stomp his foot and shout, "Buttttt!" Then, immediately, he proceeded to throw it back out to sea, and the cycle went on hilariously for 20 minutes.

Wanna see something funny? These two guys who grew up together at The Lake causing mayhem are now holding chubby toddler hands while the kiddoes splash in the water. Too cute.

Anyways, after a chilly windy Father's Day, we headed home (and stopped for another ice cream cone). Now we are back to packing up everything, stressing about school, wedding-to-dos for one of my best girlfriends, and trying to squeeze in a leisure read somewhere. Wait, did I say we? I meant "I" am doing these things, and Steve is working his butt off telling me not to stress. It's cute that he thinks it's possible I could ever be stress free.

Hopefully not far-fetched though, as I have a spa date with my sister tomorrow night.

Until I have more cute photos -- ya'll keep on keepin' on!

Everything

Find me here, speak to me. I want to feel you, I need to hear you. You are the light that's leading me to the place where I find peace again.



You are the strength that keeps me walking. You are the hope that keeps me trusting. You are the light to my soul. You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

 You calm the storms, and you give me rest. You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall. You steal my heart and you take my breath away. Would you take me in? Take me deeper now.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

 Cause you're all I want, you're all I need. You're everything. Everything.

Sometimes you think everything is wrapped inside a diamond ring, love just needs a witness and a little forgiveness and a halo of patience, and a less sporadic pace and I'm learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes. Oh, I've felt that fire and I've been burned but I wouldn't trade the pain for what I've learned.

All In Good Time

Life is pretty messy. That is the nature of the beast. Following a series of bad mishaps and bad negotiations with unreliable people, we are moving. Correction, we are homeless.

After a couple days of panic, we have transitioned into "just-deal-with-it-mode." This entails packing up what is left of our lives once the majority of our belongings are fed to trash bags, storing it all away as though it is make-believe, pretending that none of it is really happening for a couple days, and then, finally, we will get back on up on our feet and start over.

Every day I feel better and better, a little less breakable, and a little more sure of my self as it pertains to an uncertain future and or destination. For I have the most adventurous and strong willed travelling companions. We are all we have and we are all we need.

I recently stopped caring what anyone has to say, particularly those who never even call to say hello. But in general, words seem to pass me by like wind. If I say that unwanted advice is like dust in the wind, then perhaps I am dulling the reality of the sentiment and potentially abusing the intended meaning of the lyrics. So be it. Your words are dust in the wind.

Sometimes I think people are so worried that they will be unhappy, that they must first ensure that they won't be the first. Or maybe people talk so much about you, give you so much advice, want so many answers...because they wish someone was talking about them, would give them advice, have all the wrong questions.

Love. Be. Be In Love. The rest is just dust in the wind. Negatives are only negative until you find the positive.

Keepin Up With the Crazies...

I realize I have deprived everyone of what they crave most the last couple weeks, AIDEN PIX! I am truly sorry, but now that Virginia Woolf and I have decided to go our separate ways, I am happy to catch you all up. Even though I haven't been able to tell all his stories, I have been getting some good snap shots....

Anticipating His FROYO!

One of the best days of the month for Aiden and I is COSTCO DAY! I go once a month to pick up the bulk things we need (diapers, frozen meat,  paper towels, etc.) and the reward for Aiden (besides the one toy he usually gets) is a frozen yogurt from the little snack vendor they have. Not that I don't like it too...

This was the first time he didn't wait for me to feed it to him.

He took matters into his own hands on our last trip, and while I was enjoying a snack, he commandeered my frozen yogurt. This was the face I got when I asked, "Whadaryadoin???"

But Mom....FROYO!

Since I have been in school for four hours a day, I've been staying late at work to keep up. This means I've averaged about an hour a night with Bubba, so I've been trying to make them all count.

Aiden really gets a kick out of playing "The Dot Game" with Kane but because he is so small and Kane is such a dinosaur, Aiden usually gets totally run over when he tries to help Kane catch the dot. Now that he's getting a little older he understands how to work the laser-pointer on his own so we let him control the dot for Kane. I thought for sure one night last week that Kane was going to go through the wall....

Silly Kane....

Aiden is also officially 29 months old as of this weekend...that means the one month count down is on until he starts pre-school. So, he is soaking up as much quality time with Papa Cormack as possible. I make it sound really traumatic for both of them but really they will still have a solid 2-3 days a week together. This is just so Aiden gets the benefit of hanging out with other kids and Papa gets the benefits of extended nap time and a couple days a week that have nothing to do with the McDonald's Play Place.

Aiden and I have had very busy weekends too, places to go and people to see everywhere. Including his new best buddy...Charlie. At Red Robin last weekend he was more interested in giving baby Charlie stickers than he was eating his corn dogs...surprise surprise....

When we got home and I gave him the sticker book to put away on his bookshelf, he asked me where the baby was. So. Sweet. I told Carlye that we will definitely be sending baby Charlie stickers once he is moved back home.

Aiden got some new big boy bed sheets - I decided to part with the baby ducks and froggies (until he wets the bed) and let him upgrade - as soon as his room is clean I'll show you pictures. Since we got new sheets I rearranged his room too, nice little switch up for Summer, and when I moved the crib to show him there were in fact NO MONSTERS behind, under, or near the bed he of course went directly to where it was moved to, pointed to the corner and said, "MONSTERS!"

I guess the monsters are attached to the crib?? I don't know....

Oh, and Steve says hi!